Objective: To explore the clinical effect of Kirschner wire retractor-assisted reduction and inverted insertion of elastic nail in the treatment of children's irreducible subradial 1/3 fractures.
Methods: A total of 34 children with irreducible subradial 1/3 fractures treated by surgery from August 2016 to December 2020 were retrospective analyzed. Among them, 16 cases underwent Kirschner wire retractor-assisted closed reduction and percutaneous elastic intramedullary nailing with inverted insertion(observation group), 10 males and 6 females, aged from 4 to 10 years old with an average of(6.0±0.4)years;18 cases underwent open reduction and plate internal fixation (control group), 11 males and 7 females, the age from 3 to 10 years with an average of(7.0±0.5) years. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, incision length, fracture healing time and complications of the two groups were observed and the wrist function was evaluated by Cooney wrist joint score.
Results: All patients were followed up for 3-12 years old with an average of (11.40±0.48) months in the observation group and 4-13 months with an average of (11.50±0.39) months in the control group. Bone healing was achieved in all patients, and there was no incision infection in both groups. The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay and incision length in observation groups were lower than those of control group (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the fracture healing time between two groups(P>0.05). There was no significant difference in postoperative healing and recovery of wrist function between groups(P>0.05).
Conclusion: Compared with open reduction and plate internal fixation, Kirschner wire retractor-assisted reduction and percutaneous elastic intramedullary nail fixation for irreducible subradial radial 1/3 fractures has the advantages of less trauma, shorter operation time, less blood loss, and satisfactory short-term clinical results.
Keywords: Children; Fracture fixation, intramedullary; Radius fractures; Surgical procedures, operative.